“Public relations is what you do with what you know and what others think about what you say”
I read this definition of PR a few months ago and really liked it. It was hidden at the bottom of the Wikipedia entry for Public Relations and seems to be attributed to Grunig. I have a copy of the book it claimed to be from and couldn’t find it and (being a bit of a geek) I’ve been in touch with Professor Grunig to see if he recalled saying it and he doesn’t. So it remains unattributed (if you know where it is from, then please do let me know).
What struck me about this particular definition of PR is its relevance. Media change, methods change, technology changes and we constantly have to be topping up our knowledge but the fundamentals remain the same.
A PR person’s role is to guide companies and people to use the knowledge that they have in the best possible way to ensure that other people think what they have to say is interesting.
It doesn’t matter if that is via a journalist and read in a newspaper, via a blogger and read online or by directly engaging with a consumer on Twitter – it’s all about guiding our clients and helping them have a dialogue with the people they need to reach.
